Functional Snack Foods With Safflower Oil and Soy in Postmenopausal Women Having Metabolic Syndrome

Overview

This research study is being done to help researchers develop new dietary options for menopausal women to maintain a healthy weight by developing more nutritious snacks that have health benefits. From this study, the researchers hope to gain understanding on how menopausal women with metabolic syndrome digest and absorb foods with safflower oil on its own and when combined with soy. The research team hypothesize that the two different types of pretzels may be processed by your body differently and that components in the pretzel snacks may be helpful for preventing diseases like obesity and cancer. Safflower oil and soybeans contain many natural chemicals that may benefit human health. However, this relationship is not well understood. This study will look at the impact of the pretzel snacks on your blood fat and glucose levels as well as a group of chemicals found in soy called "isoflavones". Isoflavones are natural chemicals found commonly in soybeans or foods made from them. Participants will be screened to determine if they qualify in meeting the study requirements. Participants cannot have a known allergy to dairy, soy, safflower oil, or wheat protein. Also, participants will be asked to stop eating legumes (beans, peas, soy protein, sprouts and peanuts) and to document the oils they eat for the entire 14 weeks of this study. The study will require five visits to the Ohio State University Clinical Research Center (CRC) which part of the Ohio State University's Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. Once the investigators have determined that you qualify for this study and you decide to participate, you will be consuming three different pretzels each for one month, starting with a control pretzel. After the control pretzel treatment period, you will be randomly assigned (like the "flip of a coin") to start with one of the two pretzel groups (wheat or soy pretzel with safflower oil) for your first treatment period and then switch to the other safflower oil pretzel at your second treatment period.

The overarching goal is to develop new dietary strategies to help postmenopausal women maintain a healthy weight by improving the availability of nutritious snacks that contain added health benefits and will be used to assess the impact of a functional snack on snacking behavior. The primary objective is to evaluate safflower oil delivered in a wheat pretzel compared to a wheat pretzel enhanced with soy will have a greater affect on blood triglyceride and glucose levels thereby affecting satiety and snacking behavior. The investigators hypothesize that a functional snack food such as a soft pretzel containing safflower oil either with or without soy compared to the control pretzel (wheat pretzel with no safflower oil) will reduce postprandial blood triglycerides and glucose. This proposed multidisciplinary study is a randomized cross-over trial involving 20 overweight (BMI \> 25 kg/m2) postmenopausal women with metabolic syndrome will participate in a dietary intervention study for a total of 14 weeks (two weeks of washout and three 4 week interventions). The study will require five visits to the Ohio State University Clinical Research Center (CRC), part of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, Figure 5. Women will visit the CRC to be screened (Day-14) and their eligibility will be determined using a health and lifestyle questionnaire and results from a 12 hour fasting lipid panel (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides). Those meeting the National Cholesterol Education Program criteria for metabolic syndrome and having no other excluding conditions will be enrolled. Prior to their oral triglyceride tolerance tests (OTTT), women will be instructed to abstain from a. alcohol consumption for 72 hour, b. consume ≥150g of carbohydrates for 24 hours, c. abstain from vigorous exercise for 24 hours, d. collect urine for 24 hours, e. fast for 12 hours prior to all their clinic visits. When women arrive at the CRC for their clinic visits, weight and vital signs will be collected and a venous catheter placed for timed blood collections. Blood will be collected for serum triglycerides and glucose prior to (-5 minutes) and at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 240, 300, and 360 minutes after consumption of the test meal. At their run-in visit (Day 0), subjects will consume a control pretzel with a flavored oil dip containing a standardized quantity of triglycerides (50 g long chain fatty acids). At the first treatment period (Day 28) visit, women will be randomized to one of the two intervention groups (wheat or soy pretzel with safflower oil) and then crossover to the other safflower oil pretzel at their second treatment period visit (Day 56). The two intervention pretzel meals will be accompanied with the same oil dip provided before. At the end of each OTTT visit women will be instructed to continue eating the test pretzels (12 pretzel bites/day) for the next 28 days as a snack. Subjects will be instructed to complete questions pertaining to their satiety during their 7 hour stay. Women will return for their last visit on Day 84 to submit all completed study materials (survey, dietary recall, and daily intake journal), completed 24 hour urine collection, and blood collection.